How to Sew a T-shirt Dress

A T-shirt dress is versatile and fairly easy to make at home. By making your own T-shirt dress, you can decide the style of the dress, fabrics used to make the dress and fit of the dress. You can make a T-shirt dress out of any style of T-shirt, including short sleeve, V-neck, sleeveless, long sleeve or ¾ sleeves. Follow these steps to make your own.

Things You'll Need

• T-shirt
• Seamstress tape measure
• Chalk
• Fabric
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Elastic band

Instructions

1. Wash the T-shirt and skirt fabric you will use to make the dress. Dry these items. Turn the T-shirt inside out and place it on a flat surface.

2. Take in the shirt bodice. Measure a line that extends from 2 inches from the edge of the fabric straight up to the underarm seam using a seamstress tape measure. Mark this line with chalk. This will leave a triangle portion of the shirt that must be cut from each side. Sew the edges together 1/4-inch from the edge of the fabric.

3. Trim the shirt to the desired length. For a low seam, you should cut 1 inch or less from the bottom of the shirt. Cut no more than 5 inches if you want the seam to fall near the waist. An empire waist T-shirt dress may require you to cut up to 12 inches.

4. Get measurements for the skirt fabric. Measure from the designated waist seam area to the spot you want the bottom of the skirt to fall, either knee length, below the knee or mid calf. Add 6 inches to this length to ensure enough fabric to create hemlines. That is the length the rectangle should be. To find out how wide the rectangle should be, measure the widest part of the wearer's hip. Add 8 inches to that number. Write these measurements down.

5. Lay the skirt fabric out on a flat surface upside down. Mark the fabric with the measurements you took. Use the chalk to mark the fabric. If the fabric has a print that must flow in a certain direction, ensure that you lay it out accordingly. Cut the fabric along the lines using sewing scissors.

6. Sew the skirt either by hand using a needle and thread or with a sewing machine. Sew a ½-inch seam along the bottom of the skirt. Fold the fabric in half. Sew a seam ¼-inch from the edge of the open end of the fabric that goes from the top to the bottom of the skirt.

7. Attach the skirt to the bodice. Fold ¼-inch of the bottom of the T-shirt up. Do the same to the top of the skirt. Place these two folds against each other. Sew along the crease. If you want an elasticized waistband, use a 1/8- or 1/16-inch elastic band instead of thread.

8. Turn the dress right side out. Add any embellishments desired, such as decorative buttons along the waist seam line.